This invention relates to soldering and more particularly to a solder structure and method for applying solder to a row of terminals.
The art of soldering is old and well-known and the techniques are as varied as the apparatus types which must be soldered. However, from time to time, problems still manage to arise in which the traditional methods and solder structures are inadequate. For example, in situations where wires must be soldered onto terminals which project from a board one common method is to cut the solder into round donut shapes and then place each individual donut over the terminal. A quick application of heat to the solder ring and the wire becomes securely attached to the terminal. For high volume production such a technique is economically possible because sophisticated tooling can be justified. However, for low volume (such as for prototypes) tooling is unavailable and hand placement is time consuming and uneconomical since each donut must be picked up, usually with tweezers, and then dropped over the terminal.
Accordingly, a need exists in the art for a better solder structure which allows for easier placement of the solder on the terminals and for a method of making such a solder structure in a low cost fashion.